EDUCATE! ORGANIZE!! MOBILIZE!!!
These are the three pillars on which Ed Notes is founded – providing information on current ed issues, organizing activities around fighting for public education in NYC and beyond and exposing the motives behind the education deformers. We are part of a tiny band of resisters. Nothing will change unless YOU GET INVOLVED IN THE STRUGGLE!

Sunday, May 8, 2016

A List of 222 School Level Chapter Leaders Running for Unity: Loyalty Oathers Who Will Sell You Out When Told To

Some people ask me who are the 750 Unity delegates that will elected and will get the perks of the Unity patronage machine with free trips and union job offers.

THE JOKE OF THE WEEK

Thanks to the work of Jonathan Halabi for putting together a list of all Unity people who are running -- 222 Unity CLs from the schools are running in the election (the list may not be complete and I am not including CLs from functional chapters).

They are part of the 750-800 who will go to this July's AFT convention in Minneapolis (we will publish some more including district reps and other in the future), all expenses paid by our dues, to vote as ONE for anything Randi and Mulgrew wants them to vote for. They will also go to the NYSUT convention next April and stay at the NY Hilton to make sure Unity keeps control against any challenge from Stronger Together. Also on our dues.

When the 2018 contract comes up for a vote, no matter how onerous it is, they will sell it to the members of their schools. They owe their loyalty to Unity and the UFT leadership, not the members who elected them. Now there are even more Unity CLs and some delegates who are not running for election. Who knows exactly hoe many CLs and delegates they have - and if you add functionals and retirees (300) they have the DA under control - unless and until the non-affiliated start attending en masse.

Their numbers explain how they can control the Delegate Assembly. These are the ground troops Unity uses to control the membership.

That is why I maintain that the more important elections are the chapter leaders and delegates (next in 2018) than this election because each one of these people will extract some votes out of their schools.

My guess is that the opposition needs to get people active in 500 schools before they can dent the Unity machine enough to make a difference.

I sorted them by district. High Schools are district 71-73 and 76-79, reflecting the borough high school districts.

16 comments:

You forgot a few details but I am sure this post will be deleted. This is the front line forcing fighting for members every day. When the Principal summons you, they are there. When you have a grievance, they are there. When you have a question about benefits for your sick child, they are there. When you have a problem with your paycheck they are there. When it is time to protest, they are there. When it is time to rally, they are there. When it is time to gather your fellows to donate days when you are dying of cancer they are there. When your love one dies, they are there.

And yes they go to conventions and stick together because that helps all of us (including you Norm) because in Unity there is strength.

Yeah you "stick together." You stick with whatever UFT Leadership tells you to stick with instead of sticking with what your members want. You stuck together to support the use of Danielson which is an unreasonable tool to use to evaluate teachers. You stuck together to support Mulgrew wanting to punch anyone in the face who tries to end common core. You stuck together when Mulgrew gave a speech about how great the evaluation system is....how it's so much better than the old system when we weren't tied to test scores. You stuck with a leadership who wants Danielson and test scores to continue to be used as weapons against teachers. Backing the leader's agenda at all times at all costs no matter what asinine thing they do or say is not a sign of strength. When you're handed the next cup of Unity Kool Aid and you willingly gulp it down because UFT Leadership tells you to, you are not exhibiting strength, you are exposing your weaknesses as individuals who put aside the wants and needs of the members you were elected to represent in favor of remaining on bended knee at the foot of UFT Leadership who promotes Danielson and the tying of teachers to test scores. And you do this because you know how dangerous it is to be a teacher these days and you convince yourself that if you suck up enough they will protect you better than the rest of us. If you are part of their inner circle you will be offered more protection than is offered the teachers you were elected to represent. Unity Strength my ass! Strength is tossing the cup of Kool Aid into the face of the one who serves it to you. Strength is galvanizing the members in your school so they rarely need UFT leadership. Strength is expecting and demanding support from UFT leadership when you do need them. Roseanne McCosh

Danielson was forced upon us by Governor Cuomo. Even if the socialists from MORE were in charge, it would STILL have been forced upon us, or even worse, since you MORE-ons haven't a clue as to how to run anything.

You are on the front lines of defending common core, taking money from the state ed dept, Eli Broad and Bill Gates. On the front line of opposing opt out. On the front line of supporting free market and opposing seniority rules. I could go on.

There are chapter leaders who do the job, and try to do it well. Some are Unity members. Some belong to MORE. I like to think I do a reasonably good job, and I am a co-ordinator of New Action. The first Anonymous poster (9:56) insults all the hard-working chapter leaders, volunteers all, who do not join Unity.

At the DAs, and in my case on the Exec Board, we vote as our conscience dictates, as we judge best for the members, or as the members of our chapters ask us to.

Unity chapter leaders have sold their votes. They do not vote their conscience, they do not use their best judgment, they do not follow the recommendations of their members. Instead, they vote as Unity instructs them, and they claim small jobs and a free trip or two as their rewards.

Anonymous would like to remain anonymous - the members who elect him probably think he represents them - and he's probably hoping they do not learn the truth.

You listed 222 Unity Chapter Leaders. This thread was about them. 9:56 never said that they were not other CLs who do a good job. We had in the OP by Norm is usually attack of convention going loyalist. The point of 9:56 was that these people just don't go to conventions but they are support their fellow Sisters and Brothers every day in the schools or other units.

But many of them don't support their fellow teachers or they wouldn't be coming to MORE. There are so many reports of Unity Chapter leaders who if a teacher complains spills the beans to the principal and the teacher gets in trouble. How many ATRs are supported by Unity chapter leaders who think like their leadership that these people are lucky to have a job. Didn't you tell people that if they turned down the 2014 contract the city would go bankrupt and then ends up with billions in surplus? I personally know of many Unity CLs who have cushy jobs in their school and "work" with the principal to make sure they keep these jobs. We know of schools where a Unity CL lost to a MOEE person and the principal has conspired with the former CL to go after the MORE teacher and friends.

Yes I am also friendly with some of these people too and some of them do a good job. But I also have been told by teachers about how so many are in the pockets of their principa and are not to be trusted -- they are in essence the principal's enforcer. I also saw a batch of them mock the people who walked out on Bill Gates. I see them at the mics at AFT conventions calling the question or doing dirty work on committees. One woman who I had respected said some things and defended some policies in a political maneuver to shut out the chicago teachers union from a call to control charters 4 years ago. The point is that we have reached a point where people have to face some public scrutiny of their actions. They should have the same conscience as Roseanne McCosh who was a Unity CL but walked away. We know others who did to because they have a conscience.

Oh and coming soon are the other 550, including Randi and Alan Lubin. Imagine - we are voting for delegates who have supposedly left the UFT years and even decades ago. All that while even if MORE got only 20% of the vote those people are disenfranchised while Randi gets elected to "rep" us.

I am looking forward to the 2018 elections. It is sad that these folks are voting their caucus rather than the issues. I wish there were more data regarding what teachers really want. One can be mad a Chapter Leaders, but it's really teachers and other uft members who ought to "plug-in" to what's happening within the union. And yet, much understanding goes to how difficult the job is in and of itself -- many feel they have no time for union stuff -- and many are even more oblivious to how the "union stuff" connects to their everyday work experiences.

2018 should be interesting since it is also a contract year. Unity likes to have contracts locked up before the general election which will be in 2019.We need to address the next contract after this election is over. It is never too early to raise the issue.

Comments are welcome. Irrelevant and abusive comments will be deleted, as will all commercial links. Comment moderation is on, so if your comment does not appear it is because I have not been at my computer (I do not do cell phone moderating).

UFT Election Vote Comparison: 2004-10

A Personal Historical Perspective

Why Karen Lewis Reads Ed Notes

"A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford

What media call "philanthropy" for the public schools are actually seed monies to establish a private "market" in publicly-financed education - an enterprise worth trillions if successfully penetrated by corporate America. Cory Booker, one of the "New Black Leaders" financed by the filthy rich, is key to creating a "nationwide corporate-managed schools network paid for by public funds but run by private managers.

"Ed Reformers" want to cash in on public education and to control its content and outcome, not improve it. Provide great education? Baby boomers had as close as this country has ever gotten to it when we were growing up. The Ed Reform Movement has no interest in seeing such a well-educated, democratically astute population ever again.

History of the UFT Pre-Weingarten Years

This award-winning series of articles by Jack Schierenbeck originally appeared in the New York Teacher in 1996 and 1997.

Naturally, from a certain point of view. But, despite certain biases, Schierenbeck, a great guy, was one of the best NY Teacher reporters so this is worth reading. Jack suffered a debilitating stroke many years ago (I used to get secret donations to ed notes from him through a 3rd source.)

“The schism in the union over radical politics [is] a major reason for stalling the growth of a teacher union for decades.” Revolutionary politics and ideology take center stage, as the original Teachers Union becomes a battlefield, pitting leftist against leftist and splitting the union.

Clarence Taylor's "Reds at the Blackboard" focused on the old Teachers Union which disbanded in 1964 after suffering from anti-left attacks.

Effective Union Organizing

A video series put together by Jason Mann from the British Columbia Federation of Teachers about social media and how to use it for effective union organizing.

The first series was called New Media For Union Activists Roadmap and it's still available on-line at:http://www.newmediabootcamp.ca/welcome/I watched some of them and need to rewatch as they are loaded with information.

The second series started last week and it's called "Online Campaigning for Union Activists"

7 weeks Old - Nov. 2011

You Don't Have A Choice - Join the Revolt

Hedges says, There are no excuses left. Either you join the revolt taking place on Wall Street and in the financial districts of other cities across the country or you stand on the wrong side of history.

Ex-Harlem Success Teacher Comments on Eva the Diva

I am a former Harlem Success teacher. Not many people who work/worked for her like her very much. I once made the comment that she is very nice when I first was hired. Two of her closest colleague responded immediately almost in unison, "Eve is not nice!" Over time I realized that there was a lot of political games going on. Another colleague once said to me that he was tired of "being part of a political campaign." Sending out 15,000 applications for only 400 seats in a school is reprehensible. The money that paid for those mass mailings could have paid the yearly salary of another teacher not to mention the heartache of all those parents who applied but did not get a spot. She does good work trying to give disadvantaged students a quality public school education but at a great cost to staff AND the school's educational budget! school budget.

GEM's Julie Cavanagh Debates E4E member on NY1 on LIFO and Seniority

Davis Guggenheim Compared to Riefenstahl

“Waiting for Superman" is the second most intellectually dishonest piece of documentary work I have seen. It is surpassed only by Leni Riefenstahl's "Triumph of the Will," the pro-Hitler propaganda classic, in that regard. Uses personal narratives of adorable children to create narrative suspense that overrides public policy discussion with pure emotion in unscrupulous attack on teachers and their unions, among others

Timothy TysonProfessor of African American Studies and HistoryDuke University

A Familiar Voice on Unions

"We must close union offices, confiscate their money and put their leaders in prison. We must reduce workers salaries and take away their right to strike"- Adolf Hitler, May 2, 1933

How Teaching Experience Makes a Difference

Even as New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Michelle Rhee and others around the nation are arguing for experienced teachers to be laid off regardless of seniority, every single study shows teaching experience matters. In fact, the only two observable factors that have been found consistently to lead to higher student achievement are class size and teacher experience, so that it’s ironic that these same individuals are trying to undermine both.- Leonie Haimson on Parents Across America web site

Outsource our children

Harlem $ucce$$ Academy Ad

Weingarten/Gates Foundation announce drone-driven teacher evaluation

According to a press release issued by the Gates Foundation, the AFT and the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, these three have entered a ground-breaking partnership to evaluate teachers utilizing the drone technology that has revolutionized warfare in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. A bird-size device floats up to 400 feet above a classroom and instantly beams live video of teachers in action to agents at desks at Teacher Quality Inspection Stations established by the AFT and the Thomas B. Fordham Institute.

When asked if the drones were authorized to drop bombs on teachers who exhibit inadequacy, Chester E. Finn, Jr., president of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, replied, "Don't be ridiculous. Gates money puts other methods at our disposal."

Randi Weingarten, president of the 1.5-million-member American Federation of Teachers said the powerful union has signed on to the drone project...

Teacher Value-Added Data Dumping by Norm Scott

The Real Reason Behind Push for Standardized Tests: It's All About the Adults

On standardized testing in our schools

A must read article about the standardized test industry.Written by an insider who has worked as a test scorer, the article outlines a multinational industry based on an army of temporary workers paid by the piece at $0.30 to $0.70 per test, translated in the need to grade 40 tests per hour to make a $12 salary. The article goes on to show how the companies gauge the grading "results" based on the need to ensure new contracts to continue profiting off of our youth. The original article is from Monthly Review. Here it is on Schools Matter blog.

From Sharon Higgins

Parallels between America today and Germany in the 1920's and early 30's

"Resentment and obstruction are all the right wing in America have to peddle. Their policies are utterly discredited. Their ideology - even by its own standards - is a sham. They are so bereft of leaders, their de facto leader is a former drug addicted, thrice-divorced radio talk show host. That is literally the best they can muster. But they have built a national franchise inciting the downwardly mobile to blame the government, not the right, for their problems, exactly as Hitler did in the 1920s."

Chicago View of Unity/UFT on Charters

After many meetings and debates, the Chicago delegation succeeded in working with the New York United Federation of Teachers, Local 2 (UFT) to push the AFT to take stronger stands on charter school accountability and school closings — though many delegates from Chicago would have liked the language to have been even stronger.

Generally speaking, the New York delegation represented organizing charters as the best model for handling their role in reshaping unions, despite the fact that according to many reports few charter schools in New York have been organized as is the case in Chicago. This logic is the same touted by the Progressive Caucus of the AFT. The few that have been organized are a part of the UFT local though they have separate contracts negotiated with the help of UFT. The Chicago delegation reflection the mindset that allowing new charters to continue to proliferate while attempting to organize existing charters is an end game in which public schools and the union lose.

Ed Notes Greatest Hits: HSA Rally and Founding of GEM

Angel Gonzalez and I attended that rally and used the footage to promote our conference on Mar. 28, 2009, which is where the concept of a group like GEM emerged. Until then we had basically been a committee of ICE working with the NYCORE high stakes testing group. The actions of Eva and crew helped spawn GEM. Mommie Dearest!!

I have more video somewhere. I was hoping to get Leni Riefenstahl to edit it but she died. We would have called it "Triumph of the Hedge Fund Operators."

Video of Chicago's George Schmidt and CORE Shredding Arne Duncan and the Chicago Corporate Model

Great Post on Teacher Quality at the Morton School

I'm very tired of the myth that schools are bursting at the seams with apathetic, unskilled, surly, child-hating losers who can't get jobs doing anything else. I recently figured that, counting high school and college where one encounters many teachers in the course of a year, I had well over 100 teachers in my lifetime, and I can only say that one or two truly had no place being in a classroom.